Not long ago, the average Cadillac owner was born during the Triassic period. Cadillacs came standard with an AARP membership and were limited to a top speed of twenty miles per hour. Most were white, beige, eggshell or buff and ordered with a column shift and a bench front seat. Common dealer-installed accessories were landau tops, wire rims on whitewall tires, and an automatic Metamucil dispenser.

In the early 2000’s GM realized they the majority of Cadillac customers were about to drive over the rainbow bridge and they’d be left with no consumer base if they didn’t revitalize the brand to appeal to a younger market. Bob Lutz, CEO of post bail out GM, touched on it in his book. Buick, faced with the same problem as Cadillac, produced the same insipid cars yet attempted a multimillion dollar ad campaign to convince us that Tiger Woods drove a Buick. Needless to say, no one bought it. It’s hard to believe that Tiger’s car of choice was a beige blob with a Buick ornament, effectively proving to GM corporate that even a young athletic pitchman can’t sell a stereotypical old man’s car. Clearly, Cadillac needed more than an ad campaign to salvage the brand. While the introduction of the Escalade in 1999 helped by adding rap stars and wannabes to the Cadillac consumer base, Cadillac’s cars were not selling and were seen by consumers as the equivalent of pairing black socks with sandals.

In 2013 Macklemore released their landmark song "White Walls" which was catchy as hell and hilarious because it portrayed every Cadillac stereotype. I'm imagine the 80+ Cadillac owners were oblivious to it and the GM marketing execs liked the publicity but not the source it came from.

Zip forward to today, and Cadillac is the proud manufacturer coupes and sedans knocking on the 500+ HP door with such features as direct injection and active rev matching. While previous Caddies were equipped with marshmallow on spongecake suspension, the V series uses dampers filled with magnetorheological fluid, which adjust every millisecond to respond to road conditions and driver input.

In terms of foreign competition, the Germans have traditionally dominated the sport sedan market with the hand-built Mercedes AMG sedans and BMW M series. Cadillac’s V series is making Germans shake in their lederhosen, rivaling Mercedes, BMW and Audi sport sedans in athletics, design and price.

Interestingly, both Cadillac and Tiger Woods’s current reputations have completely changed. Cadillac has transformed its brand from “The standard of retirees and some rap stars” to the “new standard of the world,” until they changed their slogan again to “Dare Greatly,” whatever that means. Fortunately for Cadillac, their new “bad” image saved the company from the same fate as Pontiac and Saturn, while Tiger’s new bad-boy reputation lost him sponsorships from Nike and Buick. However, like Cadillac, Buick is attempting to revitalize their brand image, so Tiger’s new persona may be exactly what they’re looking for.

How much are you willing to pay for a custom made vehicle? With the 2011 release of the Fiat 500, Fiat is banking on American consumers paying a substantial amount of money for a premium sub-compact car. Depending on the options selected, the 500’s will range from around sixteen thousand to well over twenty thousand dollars; ample money for a car the size and shape of a large crock pot.

Fiat will offer the 500 in about half a million combinations of exterior colors and graphics, interior colors and trims, as well as a multitude of various electronic and wheel options, giving buyers a much greater ability to customize a Fiat 500 than the vast majority of other vehicles. Fiat’s ordering system is much like a Dell computer, the buyer chooses one of three models (base, mid-level or luxury) and then tailors their vehicle with the desired options.

Unfortunately for consumers, the amount a car maker allows a consumer to “spec” out a vehicle has steadily decreased since the 1970’s. Manufacturers determined that it was expensive to provide hundreds of options and to customize the majority of cars. Since the 70’s, car makers have bundled together options into packages or models. Most cars today are available in a base, mid level or luxury model with only a few packages to choose from. That way, if way, if you want heated seats you’re forced to order and pay for a “cold weather package,” which includes heated windshield washers and heated mirrors, both options that the majority of consumers would never purchase had they been individually offered.

Customization, of course, comes at a price. Fiat, currently owned by Chrysler, is banking on a consumer market willing to pay a premium for custom ordered Fiat 500. Furthermore, those purchasing a custom vehicle will have to wait a month or more before delivery, contrary to research attesting that the majority of new car buyers want to drive their purchase home the same day. However, can assume that Chrysler and Fiat have studied their target market thoroughly and researched the cost of their customization plan. Clearly, they’ve determined that offering half a million combinations of options will yield the most profit. Fiat’s plan, in essence, is that the 500 will appeal to a broader market of buyers because they can order a 500 to suit them personally.

However, automotive market research is often horribly incorrect, as proven by the Pontiac Aztec. Pontiac executives clearly thought they had a profitable product when they billed the Aztec as a revolutionary automobile. Allegedly a combination of a rugged SUV and a roomy minivan with a sports car spirit, the Aztec failed on all accounts. What Pontiac thought was a radically modern design, consumers thought an incongruous design I thought it was the automotive equivalent of a Platypus, as it looked to be assembled from spare parts and it’s overall function was indeterminable.

My opinion of the accuracy of Fiat’s market research aside, a market of car buyers willing to wait and pay a premium for exactly the car they want has existed for other vehicles, notably the Ford Mustang when it was released in 1964. Buyers could choose from lists of options, engines, drivetrains and colors to “spec” out a Mustang exactly to their taste and budget. This consumer power to customize a Mustang attracted record sales numbers from a diverse market; everyone from teenage whipper-snappers to housewives looking to become a two car family. From what I can tell, Fiat has essentially the same marketing plan for the 500.

In conclusion the Fiat 500 will test whether a profit can be made by selling more custom cars than the cost of supplying custom cars. The cost-benefit analysis of producing customizable cars has umpteen facets and arguments, many of which rely less on numbers and more on notoriously complex consumer perception and determinants of purchasing. Personally, I don’t understand why anyone would pay upwards of 20 grand for a car the size of a stroller with only 100 horsepower. I think the Fiat will be a huge flop in the American market as perception here is that the bigger the vehicle, the more luxurious. I doubt there is a market looking for a premium sub-compact vehicle, even with the current gas prices. Since the 500 was just introduced, it will take several years to determine a definite answer.

In the 1950’s, “Bel Air,” “Thunderbird,” or “Eldorado” was plausible answer to the question “what do you drive?” Today, a reply might be “MKX,” or “745Li,” “F-250” or maybe “R2-D2.” People used to drive cars with names, now they drive algebraic expressions.